Dark is Deep
by Rainia Wolf
Summary: A new prophecy is found (Author's note: this has nothing to do with Wild Powers)
1. Prologue

Title: Dark is Deep  
Author: Rainia Wolf  
Email: rainiaw@hotmail.com  
Spoilers: Night World (concepts and possibly some books, though not sure which yet. Will mention them when I know)  
Disclaimers: Night World ideas, concepts and characters belong to LJS. Any unrecognised characters and prophecies belong to me.   
Rating: 15  
Warnings: language, violence  
Summary: A new prophecy is found.  
Notes: feedback appreciated (this has nothing to do with Wild Powers.)  
  
Part 1  
  
~Of times of old one will be born  
Born of darkness and light  
Power of life and death  
Destruction and Revolution  
Salvation will come  
From a joined soul~  
  
Dear Diary,  
I didn't really want them to notice me. I hadn't been noticed much before, so why did it have to happen? It was my last year of high school, that meant I could finally leave this dull town and start somewhere new when college began.  
  
It was my own stupid fault. I had thought volunteering to help out the new girl would be a chance for me to at least make one friend.  
  
New town, new place, surrounded by a sea of strangers. It must be hard.   
  
I didn't know it would be for me too. It changed everything. My whole concept of reality. I had always longed for something more to be going on. There had to be more to my life than *this*.  
  
How was I supposed to know there really *was*? There was really something else out there.  
  
Since the day I met Sephra Redfern nothing was ever the same again.  
  
* * * 


	2. Part 1

Title: Dark is Deep  
Author: Rainia Wolf  
Email: rainiaw@hotmail.com  
Spoilers: Night World (concepts and possibly some books, though not sure which yet. Will mention them when I know)  
Disclaimers: Night World ideas, concepts and characters belong to LJS. Any unrecognised characters and prophecies belong to me.   
Rating: 15  
Warnings: language, violence  
Summary: A new prophecy is found.  
Notes: feedback appreciated (this has nothing to do with Wild Powers.)  
  
Part 1  
  
~Of times of old one will be born  
Born of darkness and light  
Power of life and death  
Destruction and Revolution  
Salvation will come  
From a joined soul~  
  
Dear Diary,  
I didn't really want them to notice me. I hadn't been noticed much before, so why did it have to happen? It was my last year of high school, that meant I could finally leave this dull town and start somewhere new when college began.  
  
It was my own stupid fault. I had thought volunteering to help out the new girl would be a chance for me to at least make one friend.  
  
New town, new place, surrounded by a sea of strangers. It must be hard.   
  
I didn't know it would be for me too. It changed everything. My whole concept of reality. I had always longed for something more to be going on. There had to be more to my life than *this*.  
  
How was I supposed to know there really *was*? There was really something else out there.  
  
Since the day I met Sephra Redfern nothing was ever the same again.  
  
* * * 


	3. Part 2

Part 2  
  
"Check it out, the freak's got a friend."  
  
Leandra Blackthorn frowned, not particularly pleased with the new girl. Who did she think she was? She could just smile at Rylan and he'd come running?  
  
Deanna Milton eyes her. "What? You don't think creepy girl stands a chance with Rylan, do you?"  
  
Leandra snorted, tossing back her long blonde hair. "I doubt it," she muttered.  
  
New people didn't come to their quiet mountain town very often, Night People were even rarer. Leandra had a vague idea that some of the humans in town had something of a clue about the population of Night People there, but most were smart enough to keep their mouths shut about it.   
  
New ones needed to be made clear of how things worked around here.  
  
"Well, if we think she's going to be a threat or disruption, then you know the standard drill," Deanna pointed out.  
  
That made Leandra smile slightly. It was a rather drastic solution, but sometimes it was necessary. ~We don't want a repeat of the Sandra/Lance incident~ Deanna's mental voice said in her head.   
  
Leandra frowned. That had been rather unpleasant, but it was over and done with.  
  
"What do we do about the freak?" Miria Arlin asked.   
  
"Leave her alone." Rylan's voice was sharp.  
  
Leandra didn't understand why he was so protective of Caprice. The girl was weird, or in Miria's terms, a freak. She was dull and uninteresting. Yet Rylan was almost...possessive of her.  
  
"I want you guys to find out what you can about that new girl," she told Miria and Deanna.  
  
Before any rash decisions or judgements were made they needed to be sure. The girl could either be a powerful ally, or a deadly foe.   
  
At the moment Leandra wasn't sure if she wanted the girl to be either.  
  
* * * 


	4. Part 3

Part 3  
  
Caprice refused to let any emotion show. She knew they were talking about her. Miria wasn't exactly subtle when it came to gossiping about people behind their backs.   
  
As for this girl she was an Ice Queen. Cold and distant, and obviously didn't like her.   
  
Still, she knew Rylan wouldn't let any of them hurt her. Why was a complete mystery to her. Everyone else had decided that Caprice wasn't worth their attention, which was fine with her.   
  
Yet for some unknown reason Rylan was always nice to her, protected her from them. At first she had been suspicious, she'd seen jocks like him do it before, be nice and friendly to the unpopular girls, use them and dump them. Her best and only friend ever Dea had killed herself because of them.   
  
She had vowed never to gall for it. But Rylan hadn't tried anything like that on her. He was like a riddle without an answer.   
  
Besides, if Sephra tried anything with him, Leandra Blackthorn would have her blood.   
  
There was something distinctly *disturbing* about Leandra and her friends. ~And they all *me* freak~ she thought cynically.  
  
She knew she wasn't the only one who had noticed it. She had heard allsorts of whispers and rumours about the town. They weren't human. Considering Miria, Caprice wasn't too surprised about *that*.  
  
Whatever they were, she knew to keep away from them.  
  
"Well, that sucked," Sephra was muttering as the next bell rang.  
  
Caprice didn't say anything. She liked English.   
  
"So what's next?" Sephra swung her bad over her shoulder. She waited, tapping one foot impatiently waiting for Caprice to gather her things.  
  
"Chemistry."  
  
Sephra sighed heavily. "Oh, what fun." She tried to catch Rylan's eye as he passed her to leave the classroom. Rylan smiled politely, Leandra glared.  
  
"Leandra Blackthorn. She's the most popular girl in school. She's dating Rylan. The dark haired girl is Deanna Milton, the redhead is Miria Arlin. Basically, they're the Bitch Squad."  
  
Sephra's expression was strange. "Ah." Did she get something about them that Caprice didn't?  
  
"Why did you come here?" she asked.  
  
Sephra stared at her in utter disbelief. "What?"  
  
Caprice just shrugged. "Why *here*? Hardly anyone ever comes her."  
  
"I didn't get a choice where we moved." Sephra was eyeing her strangely.   
  
There was more to Caprice's question that the obvious, but Sephra hadn't picked up on it, or if she had, she was avoiding answering it. It was just out of mild curiosity she was asking.   
  
Even she knew curiosity and too many questions were dangerous. Look at what had happened to Sandra and Lance. Maybe she should just keep her mouth shut and mind her own business. That was probably the smartest thing to do. Keep in the background.  
  
* * * 


	5. Part 4

Part 4  
  
Rylan forced himself to smile back at the new girl. No matter how pretty she was he knew better than to make a move on her.  
  
Leandra was already glaring at him. "I don't see what *she's* got that I don't," she complained.   
  
Rylan shrugged. "I was just being nice."  
  
Deanna snorted. "You're *too* nice."  
  
Rylan didn't see what the problem with being nice was. Granted, it wasn't a quality in most Night Worlders, particularly the ones here. Certainly one that didn't seem evident in Miria, Deanna and Leandra.  
  
Besides, to him there was just something about Caprice that didn't say human. Not many people knew his mom and Caprice's mom had been best friends throughout high school and college. Even his own mother had mentioned Caprice was going to have it rough.  
  
He'd kind of made it his duty to protect her.   
  
"I was talking about the new girl, not your favourite freak," Leandra said coldly.   
  
"She's *not* a freak," he snapped, irritated. "Just...different."  
  
Leandra eyed him as if he were insane. Then she shook her head.  
  
"The new girl...She seems kind of..." He tried to find a word that didn't sound insulting.  
  
"Creepy? Weird?" Miria supplied for him. Miria never seemed to have a problem with people descriptions.   
  
"Well someone find out something useful for me. Spread the word," Leandra said, smiling at her crowd of admirers.   
  
"Even if you don't want to go to class I do," he muttered in her ear, kissing her cheek briefly. She smiled at him, as Rylan pushed away from her and headed for his next class.  
  
He wondered if he should talk to the new girl himself, find out what *he* could about her before Leandra and her friends got their claws into her.   
  
It was hard enough starting a new school, and the last thing this girl would want was to end up like Sandra had. If he could prevent it, it wouldn't happen.  
  
* * * 


	6. Part 5

Part 5  
  
"Lord Thierry? Forgive me for intruding, but I think this might be of importance?" Thea hoped she didn't sound too nervous. She had been studying in the old archives of Circle Daybreak, trying to find more information on the Wild Powers, of anything that that could be useful in the upcoming millennium battle.  
  
Only she had come across something that might be ten times more important.  
  
"What is it, Thea?" Thierry's voice was calm and patient.  
  
Thea handed him the piece of parchment. "It's in Latin. I've translated."  
  
Thierry nodded. "I can read it."  
  
Lady Hannah breezed in. "Hi, Thea," she said brightly, "what's up."  
  
Thea managed a weak smile, waiting for Thierry's reaction to the new prophecy.  
  
"From times of old one will be born  
Born of Darkness and Light  
Power of Life and Death  
Destruction and Revolution  
Salvation will come  
From a joined soul," Thierry read the prophecy out loud.   
  
"What do you think it means?" Thea asked.   
  
Hannah studied them, trying to figure out what was going on. "What is it?"  
  
"This last line...*Salvation will come from a joined soul*...I think that means something to do with the soulmate principle," he said. "As for the rest..." He shrugged helplessly.  
"Born of darkness and light..." Thea thought hard, trying to decipher what that could be trying to say. "Maybe a half breed?" she said finally.  
  
"You mean like 'The day world where two eyes are watching?" Hannah suggested.  
  
"Whatever it means, I think we'd better figure this out before the Night World does," Thierry said. "Let's call a meeting."  
  
* * * 


	7. Part 6

Part 6  
  
It was almost starting to seem like a curse. Sephra found herself missing her home life. Her friends. The people who had known her and understood her.   
  
Since the death of her parents no other relatives near where she used to live had wanted to take her in. The only family that had eventually stepped forward to claim her had been some distant cousins to overwhelm her.   
  
One cousin, Halley, was even supposed to go to this school, only Sephra hadn't seen her yet, or even knew what she looked like. She was, instead, stuck with this weird Caprice person.  
  
Why had she come here? What kind of fucked up question was that? At least the girl had been here some time, she seemed to have a good grasp of what was hot, and who was not.  
  
Rylan...his image was implanted in her mind. That wonderful blond hair was almost crying out for her fingers to bury themselves in. His eyes were as blue as sapphires, pools she would have gladly drowned in.   
  
As for the girls he'd been with...they were Night People, it was obvious from their surnames. No Redferns amongst them already? That was surprising. Was that why they were kind of wary of Sephra? Because *she* was a Redfern?  
  
From what she could sense Leandra and her Night World cronies had established some sort of system, whispers and rumours were all everyone seemed to have heard...  
  
As for the truth to them...she wasn't sure. It might do her a little good to find out. Everyone was looking at *her* very strangely, it wasn't because of her dark good looks, it was something else.   
  
"Why does everyone keep looking at me weird?" she asked.  
  
Maybe Caprice could actually answer this one, and tell her something else remotely useful. "What'd you mean?" Her voice was soft, as she tried to pay attention to the teacher rather than to Sephra.  
  
Sephra was annoyed. She was used to being the centre of attention, always getting what she wanted. She liked the fear the vermin and nobodies had of her.   
  
Now this...vague *creature* who didn't seem to have a full deck.   
  
Sephra sighed with irritation. "Don't be annoying," she snapped. "You can't tell me you haven't noticed."  
Caprice tapped the end of her pencil against her pad of paper, as if debating what to do. "Talk to Leandra and her friends."   
  
This whole *place* is weird, Sephra thought.   
  
Then she brightened. Maybe that didn't mean it was a bad thing.  
  
* * * 


	8. Part 7

Part 7  
  
"You guys got anything good to tell me?" Leandra asked as Miria and Deanna joined her at lunch period.  
  
She hadn't seen the new girl since that first class, but that didn't mean the problem of her was going to go away, She didn't expect it to.  
  
"So far all we've managed to get is her name," Miria said with a sigh.  
  
"And her class schedule," Deanna said proudly.   
  
"Her name's Sephra Redfern," Miria told her.   
  
"She's on the same schedule as the freak," Deanna added.  
  
Leandra drummed her nails on the table top. A Redfern? That only made things worse.  
  
"So she's one of us," Deanna went on. "Do we rescue her from the freak?"  
  
"Redferns and freaks are a dangerous combination," Miria pointed out.  
  
Leandra wasn't sure. She didn't like the idea of a Redfern in the group. Just because they were the top class vampire family they all thought they were God's gift to vampirism.   
  
Unless the new girl was a damned Daybreaker. It didn't seem likely, but you never could tell.  
  
"We need to se what she's like," she said finally. "Talk to her, check her out before we made any decisions." She stopped, noticing the looks on her friends' faces. "What?"  
  
"You're not going to like this," Miria said, pointing across the cafeteria to where Rylan was sitting with Sephra and Caprice.   
  
"What the hell does he think he's doing?" Leandra demanded, outraged.   
  
Rylan could blow everything. He was going to spoil all their fun.   
  
"Maybe we should just kill him," Deanna suggested lazily. "We can call some friends who can make it look like a vampire hunter attack..."  
  
"No," Leandra snapped. This was so unfair. Some new girl came and thought she could just *take* over? If they killed a Redfern, they could risk starting a war with the other vampire families.   
  
"So you're just going to *sit* back and let this girl walk all over Rylan?" Miria asked, her disgust apparent.   
Leandra scowled, shaking her head. "I'll think of something," she hissed with determination. "She won't get away with this."  
  
* * * 


	9. Part 8

Part 8  
  
Sephra was hoping she could avoid the cafeteria at lunch. Her hunger was stirring and she didn't want to be in a large place with a lot of people. She was debating on cutting her afternoon classes. Or maybe she could find a willing human and feed quickly.   
  
Only she was surprised to find Rylan waiting for her outside the classroom.   
  
Caprice was eyeing him suspiciously. Did this girl not have *eyes* in her head? "What are you doing here?" she asked.   
  
"You guys heading to the cafeteria for lunch?" he asked. His tone was polite and friendly.   
  
Sephra fought to control her hunger. The hot guy was suggesting he could go with them, it was too good an opportunity for her to pass up. "We were," she said giving him her best smile.   
  
Caprice's eyebrow raised. "We?"  
  
"If you have other plans, be my guest," Sephra said, slipping her arm through Rylan's.   
  
Caprice shrugged and turned to walk away. Rylan reached out and caught hold of her arm. Caprice looked at him, then sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh. I get it."  
  
Got what? Sephra was confused. There was something going on that she didn't get? Whatever. She noticed Rylan was putting very little on his plate. ~Vampire?~ she wondered. He smiled briefly. Sephra tried not to smirk.  
  
"So where abouts did you live before, Sephra?" Rylan asked with a smirk.   
  
"Vancouver," Sephra answered. A city she'd always enjoyed, so much to do and see. And plenty of tourists to feed on. Now this. A small town in the mountains.  
  
"So what'd you like to do, hobbies and stuff?" This guy was full of questions. Sephra wondered if he was taking a survey.   
  
Sephra didn't know what to ell him. She had been part of a gang of Night People, the leader, they had hunted, caused destruction and chaos, messed with Forbidden Spells, went out all night to Goth and hard-core metal clubs. "I guess I like to party," she said finally, her eyes twinkling.   
  
"And she thinks *I'm* insane," Caprice muttered under her breath.  
  
Sephra frowned. She hadn't said anything about loud about the things she *really* liked, and yet somehow, she had a feeling that the girl just *knew*, as if she'd been able to read Sephra's thoughts.  
  
  
But she was human. Wasn't she?   
  
Caprice stood up. "As fascinating as this conversation *isn't*, excuse me, I have books to take back to the library." She turned and walked off.  
  
Sephra eyed her with distaste. Rylan sighed. "She's a little weird, but you get used to her."  
  
Sephra tried to figure out his expression. It was almost a one of...vague longing. She sighed herself and turned her gaze away from Caprice's disappearing back.   
  
"So what did you *really* want to talk to me about?"  
  
* * * 


	10. Part 9

Part 9  
  
"So we've established we've got a new prophecy and it's twice as important as the Wild Power thing - which is getting rather boring, by the way - so how to we go about finding whoever this person is?" Ash asked, slumped lazily in a chair.   
  
"Read the prophecy again?" Rashel asked.  
  
"Of times of Old one will be born  
Born of Darkness and Light  
Power of Life and Death  
Destruction and Revolution  
Salvation will come  
From a joined Soul," Thierry reread the prophecy, loud and clear.   
  
  
An uncomfortable silence settled over the group in the conference room.  
  
"I still think it's a half breed," Hannah insisted. "But I'm not sure it's human and whatever else. We've had that one already."  
  
"Yeah, but that's the thing with prophecies," Thea said with a frown. "We're never *entirely* sure what they really mean. Just because something's already happened in one prophecy, doesn't mean it's not going to happen in another way in another one."  
  
"Well the last line is pretty obvious," Poppy put in. "That's going to be someone's soulmate, isn't it?"  
  
"Times of old..." Gillian was muttering. "A dragon or some sort of extinct species that's not so extinct?"  
  
"Like a dinosaur?" Ash said with a smirk.  
  
Thea's eyes rolled. "Ash, if you're not going to say anything helpful, then don't say anything at all."  
  
Ash looked offended. "Who's to say there wasn't dinosaur shapeshifters? We weren't alive back then so we wouldn't know. I bet T-Rex's were feisty girls."   
  
"Maybe we should wake one up and get them to eat you," Quinn suggested.  
  
"How about she eats *you*," Ash shot back.  
  
"How about *he* eats both of you?" Poppy snorted. "There are boy dinosaurs too.  
  
"I don't think it's going to be a dinosaur that we're dealing with," Thierry said with a heavy sigh.   
  
Ash was clearly disappointed. "Can we pretend it is?"  
  
"What's your sudden obsession with dinosaurs?" James asked.  
  
"He wants to grow his own *Jurassic Park*," Thea said, trying not to grin. There were eyes rolled and mutterings under breath. Ash looked blankly at them all. "What? It would be cool."  
  
"Can we get back to the point?" Hannah asked, irritated. "It sounds more like a dragon."  
  
"With all those powers - destruction and revolution, life and death - isn't that why they were put to sleep in the first place?" Rashel asked.  
  
"We could ask Keller and Galen to look into this a little more," Gillian suggested.  
  
"No," Thierry said. "No Wild Powers or their teams. We're leaving them out of this, we can't have them involved."  
  
"So are we all agreed it's a dragon we're dealing with?" Hannah said. There were nods around the group.  
  
"I still vote dinosaur," Ash said unhelpfully.  
  
"Give up the dinosaur thing already!" Thea snorted. "The question now we know what we're dealing with is *who* the dragon is - and *where* it is."  
  
* * * 


	11. Part 10

Part 10  
  
Nia felt sorry for Caprice. It was bad enough being weird and an outcast in the type of place where everyone knew everyone else, and now she was stuck with a Night Worlder who obviously didn't like her,  
  
"How come we don't like Caprice much?" Nia asked. Her other Circle Daybreak friends shrugged uncomfortably. Nia tried to come up with an answer to her own question, and the answer was - she didn't know.  
  
"She's not exactly the friendliest person in the world," Ross Hughes pointed out sourly.   
  
"Rylan seems to like her just fine," Enya Cross said, glancing over to the table where Caprice sat with Rylan and the new girl Sephra.   
  
"Is she *really* a Redfern?" Ross asked with a frown.  
  
So far they had escaped with a member of the infamous family. They had a Blackthorn from the vampire side of things, and an Arlin from the witches, that was enough Night World families to deal with.  
  
"It would appear so," Nia answered,  
  
"What'd you think he's up to?" Enya said, tilted her head to one side, her long pale brown hair spilling into a little pool on the plastic tabletop.   
  
"I think *they're* up to something," Ross said, his eyes narrowed at Leandra and her friends, also watching Rylan, Caprice and Sephra. Then Caprice left and Rylan and Sephra were alone.   
  
Nia sighed. She had been trying to figure out why no one seemed to like poor Caprice. Now this. But this new girl seemed to be something else all together.  
  
"Guys, I think we need a meeting." Zelda Green was hurrying to the table with a cream envelope in her hand. It had the Circle Daybreak official seal on.  
  
"Forget the Redferns," Zelda said, waving the letter, breathless. "Thierry thinks we've got a dragon on our hands."  
  
That got everyone's attention. "Dragon?" Nia breathed, confusions about Caprice forgotten. "Really?"  
  
"We can't talk about that here," Ross said sharply, all senses alert. The group stood up and headed quickly out the cafeteria.  
  
They crowed around Zelda, skimming the letter that had been sent to every Circle Daybreak safe house. A new and dangerous prophecy? Dragons? (Well, there was a side note that Ash Redfern was convinced it was a dinosaur, but that was Ash Redfern all over.)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Something had been brewing in Nia's mind since the letter had arrived, and sparked now to a full boil. "You guys don't think..." she began, trailing off, not even sure she wanted to voice the thought out loud, it was kind of crazy.  
  
"It can't mean *that!*" Ross snorted. "She's way too weird."  
  
The girls exchanged glances. Clearly, everyone else *did* think.  
  
* * * 


	12. Part 11

Part 11  
  
Sephra's attention was briefly distracted by the sudden rush arrival or some girl running to a table near by, waving a letter. Sephra's sharp eyes made out a seal on the letter - the official seal of Circle Daybreak.  
  
Her eyes rolled. For an organisation who were supposed to be more secret than the Night World itself they weren't doing much of a job. Everywhere you seemed to go there was a large population of Night World vs. Circle Daybreak.  
  
Night People were supposed to be masters of secrecy and blending in so nobody knew they were there. Yet Sephra had begun to notice they were starting to make themselves obvious with common surnames of Redfern, Mandrill and Blackthorn for the vampires, Arlin, Harman and Weald for the witches, Keller and Drache for the shapeshifters.  
  
Most of these families were supposed to be like royalty, yet Sephra knew at least two people to each surname.   
  
"As I was *saying*," Rylan said, annoyed.  
  
Sephra blinked and looked back. She'd completely lost track of the story he'd been trying to tell her. "What?"  
  
Rylan sighed. "Please pay attention. This is extremely important."  
  
Sephra bit her lip on a smart remark. She wasn't used to taking orders, normally she was the one who *gave* the orders. "Might as well start again, I wasn't listening."  
  
Rylan's eyes rolled. "Basically, Leandra and her friends are in charge. Most of the humans round here seem to have a vague idea of what they are, but they're smart enough to keep their mouths should. They've killed people who tried to rebel, like Sandra and Lance."  
  
Sephra frowned. That was another thing she'd heard whispers about. People had been saying that if she hit on Rylan, or if anything developed between them they'd end up like Sandra and Lance.  
  
Now she thought she could fill in the blanks herself. "Let me guess, Lance was a guy Leandra liked, only he liked some girl she didn't like, she got jealous and killed them." She snorted with disgust. It was a story she'd heard over and over. Each variation had something slightly different to it, but it was the same basic story line.  
  
Rylan shrugged uncomfortably. "They were both Night People." His voice was low. "Things were pretty peaceful."  
  
Sephra frowned. "So what went wrong?"  
  
"They were Daybreak spies. There used to be much more Night People here. They brought on a full-scale war."  
  
That was something Sephra hadn't expected. "What happened?"  
  
"The Daybreakers were all slaughtered. Lance had been seducing Leandra, Sandra had been after the guy she was seeing at the time, Johna Redfern - "  
  
~Not another bloody Redfern~ Sephra thought with a roll of her eyes.   
  
"They were blabbers, and Johna was killed. Leandra called the council. There was a horrible execution of the Daybreakers they captured. The local people forced themselves to forget."  
  
Sephra eyed him. There was a reason he was telling her all of this. "Don't tell me, one of them was a Redfern, and they're wary of me because *I'm* a *Redfern*," she said dryly.  
  
Rylan glanced over to the new empty table where she'd seen the girl with the Daybreak seal envelope. Maybe that was something that needed investigating.   
  
As much as she loved fighting and action, even she wasn't sure she was in the mood for a full-scale war. Considering the urgency that little group had running out like that, something must be going on.  
  
Wouldn't hurt to find out what.  
  
* * * 


	13. Part 12

Part 11  
  
"Why did you tell her?" Leandra demanded, furious. She didn't understand Rylan some times. She had thought she'd known him, then he went and completely surprised her.   
  
He just shrugged. "I thought she should know. Then she won't try anything stupid."  
  
Leandra wasn't too sure about that. The girl was creepy. She knew if she said that out loud he would think she was overreacting. And maybe she was. So there was some new girl, dark and mysterious, and a Redfern. Why did that have to mean she was a secret spy for Circle Daybreak?  
  
Were there *any* Redferns left who actually belonged to the Night World? It seemed everyone was converting. Hardly anyone was supporting the Night World at the moment.  
  
"You're going to drive yourself nuts if you keep letting the little things get to you," Rylan said, kissing her cheek. "I'll see you later."  
  
Leandra sighed, watching him walking away. He was the most confusing person she had ever met.   
  
"You're Leandra Blackthorn."  
  
  
Leandra turned in surprise to see the new girl standing behind her. Too close for her liking. "Yes. And you are?"  
  
"Sephra Redfern."  
  
Leandra eyed the black-clad girl with distaste, "If you're going to hang around with decent people, then first thing after school we go shopping."  
  
Sephra's eyebrow raised a little. "Whatever."  
  
Leandra frowned at her. "You want something."  
  
"You don't like Circle Daybreak and neither do I, they're taking the fun out of everything. Now I just saw a girl in the cafeteria with a letter - that had the official Circle Daybreak seal on it."  
  
Leandra, for once, found herself speechless. She had been convinced that they had banished all the Damned Daybreakers. Considering what had happened to the last lot, who in their right minds would want to take the risk of being a Daybreaker *here*?  
  
"So why come to me?" she asked finally.  
  
Sephra just shrugged. "They took one look at that girl and the lot of them shot of like the world was about to end. It merits investigating, don't you think?"  
  
Leandra wondered if Sephra might be right. At least she had had the sense to come and tell someone. Better her than Rylan. "Who are they?"  
  
"Three girls and a guy. One of the girls as Asian - she had a tattoo of a black rose on her shoulder. The other girl was a brunette, slightly overweight. The guy was small with red hair, glasses and freckles. The other girl was tall and blond."  
  
Those descriptions could match about six hundred different students. But black rose tattoos weren't all that common. Maybe that might help narrow them down.   
  
"They said something about a dragon," Sephra added casually.   
  
Leandra stopped dead in her tracks. "*Dragon*? Who?"  
  
Sephra shrugged. "Don't know. But hadn't we better find out before they do?"  
  
* * * 


	14. Part 13

Part 13  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
Now what have I done? I'm used to whispers behind my back when I pass by, but normally it was from Leandra and the Bitch Squad. This time it was coming from Nia and her friends. They'd never so much as glanced at me before, as far as I know, anyway.  
  
*Now* it seems they're everywhere I turn - or they were after lunch, today, anyway. I don't know why, I'd left the cafeteria, I saw them coming out, practically running Why, I don't know. I wasn't there. I already knew the story that Rylan told Sephra. I didn't want to hear it again.  
  
The memory of it is enough. Apparently warnings weren't enough to scare Sephra away from Rylan. For some reason she and Leandra were starting to become friends...  
  
I am *not* jealous. Sephra has made it pretty clear she can't stand me. She was mean and snotty and....  
  
No. No. NO. Not going there. Not.  
  
What did I do to piss of Nia and her friends. Ever since they'd run out...their constant hovering around me is really getting on my nerves. Why can nobody just come straight out and *say* what they want to?  
  
They were all looking like they had some sort of news, something to tell me but they weren't sure how I'd react to it.  
  
They need to get over themselves. Just tell me.  
  
How odd.  
  
I suddenly feel very cold...  
  
* * *  
  
"How are we going to tell her?" Enya asked. "We can't exactly walk up to the girl and say, by the way, are you a dragon?"  
  
Nia sighed. She was already convinced she knew who the dragon was. To her, it was obvious. Ross didn't seem to be convinced. He didn't believe them and said they needed solid proof before he would believe anything.  
  
Nia often wondered what he was doing in Circle Daybreak. He didn't seem like most of the other Daybreakers she'd met.  
  
"I don't know," she said finally. Because the final decision had been her idea, it had fallen to Nia to fill in the blanks on the rest of the plan - the biggest being how did they break the news?  
  
"No, the *biggest* blank is are we *right*?" Zelda pointed out.  
  
Nia glared. "Keep *out* of my mind."  
  
Zelda flushed. "Sorry, but you were projecting."  
  
  
Nia wasn't too keen on the idea of working with vampires, but generally, Zelda could be trusted.  
  
"She's got a point," Enya said with a frown. "We're all pretty sure. But what if we're wrong?"  
  
The dreaded "what-ifs." Nia didn't know. "Maybe there's some sort of test we should do," she said carefully, an idea starting to form.  
  
The other exchanged glances. Before anyone said anything, they really did need to have concrete proof they had the right person. "I guess Ross was right after all," she muttered moodily.  
  
Zelda snorted. "Don't tell him that."  
  
Nia chuckled dryly. "I guess. Just because someone's a little weird doesn't automatically make them a dragon."  
  
Enya's eyebrow raised. "If that were the case, then the world would be over run with them!"  
  
Nia began to wonder, if they were *right* and the dragon was awakened, and power was discovered, who said that the dragon would be on their side?  
  
This was far too complicated for her liking. She supposed most agents faced with this situation would feel the same way.  
  
"So we need a plan if we're going to try and get the dragon to wake up," Zelda said finally.  
  
Nia frowned. She wasn't too sure this would, work, but it was the only thing she could think of. "I have a bad idea..."  
  
* * * 


	15. Part 14

Part 14  
  
Playing games with dragons was totally insane. At least in Ross's opinion. He couldn't believe it when he'd heard Nia's plan. Who in the right *minds* would agree something so foolish.  
  
"We've got a volunteer," Zelda said cheerfully.  
  
"They took someone out a psycho ward?" Ross snorted. He couldn't believe that Circle Daybreak had approved of the plan.  
  
"Lighten up, already!" Enya snapped at him. "If you have a better plan on how to wake the dragon, then please, feel free to take over."  
  
Ross scowled. Was he more annoyed about the craziness of the plan, or was he upset, but the fact that he didn't think of the plan himself. He didn't have any better ideas. Personally, he wasn't even sure it was a dragon they were dealing with.  
  
"Who's signing their death warrant then?" he asked.  
  
"Ash Redfern and a buddy of his," Zelda answered.  
  
Oh no. If things couldn't get any worse. Ash Redfern was an arrogant snob. He was supposed to have changed dramatically over the discovery of his human soulmate. Ross refused to believe it until he saw it.  
"Can you put away past issues enough to deal with this?" Enya asked him softly.   
  
"That's easy for you to say," he snapped. 'Past issues'. That was all it was to them. It may have been over two years ago but the memory was still clear in Ross's mind. Just because Ash was a Redfern he thought he could get away with anything.  
  
"How come you don't like Ash?" Zelda asked.  
  
"I don't want to talk about it," Ross snapped. Then he brightened slightly.  
  
Ash was foolish enough to volunteer to be in Nia's ridiculous plan to wake the dragon. The whole thing was suicidal. All of a sudden Nia's plan didn't sound as insane as when he'd first heard it.  
  
"Providing he stays away from me," he said, trying not to sound too smug.  
  
He noticed Enya and Zelda exchanging glances. The last time Daybreak Redferns had been in town it had resulted in a full scale war between them and the Night Worlders.  
  
They couldn't have any obvious Night World surnames that would give them away. If someone heard Ash was in town...  
  
"Did any of you guys think what might happen if *they* discover a Daybreak Redfern in town?" he asked, voicing his thoughts.  
  
Silence. Obviously they hadn't. Ross's eyes rolled. Just great. He was more than happy to see Ash be killed, but a war wasn't his idea of fun.  
  
"We can trust Rylan," Enya said unexpectedly. "We can ask him if *they* know Ash has changed. Not everyone does."  
  
Ross wasn't too sure on that one. But then again, he knew Rylan had a soft spot for their supposed dragon.  
  
"What makes you think *he* can be trusted," Zelda asked.  
  
"I just know," Enya said simply. "I'll make the contact."  
  
Zelda and Ross exchanged glances. What *wasn't* Enya saying?  
  
"I guess we don't have a choice," he said finally.  
  
* * * 


	16. Part 15

Part 15  
  
"So how do we know we can trust her?" Miria said icily, eyeing Sephra in contempt.  
  
Sephra was annoyed these people seemed to refuse to trust her. She was, after all, the one supplying them with what could turn out to be very valuable information.  
  
Daybreakers in small communities were irritating. Throw in a few dragons...  
  
"Dragons are extinct, you know," Deanna added, sounding very smug and contempt.   
  
Sephra rolled her eyes. According to Night World history dragons had been put to sleep by the witches several hundred thousand years ago leaving only a Dragon Princess, witch raised, alive because she was so young at the time.  
  
"I saw the Daybreak seal," Sephra said patiently. "I very clearly heard them say *dragon*."  
  
"There have been rumours about a new prophecy showing up," Rylan said, appearing silently as a shadow beside Leandra.  
  
"*I* think we should check this out," Leandra said, glancing at her two friends, as if peering over imaginary glasses.  
  
Deanna and Miria exchanged glances, glaring at Sephra and muttering under their breaths. She eyed Rylan suspiciously, still not sure where this guy was coming from. He was far too nice to be a Night Worlder. Although he hadn't seemed overly enthusiastic about the ideas of Circle Daybreak, who was to say *he* wasn't a spy for them?  
  
But then again, if she wanted him for herself, accusing him of being a spy wasn't going to give her much of a chance with him.  
  
"So you saw a Daybreak letter. Who with?" Miria asked.  
  
Sephra repeated her descriptions. Asian girls with black rose tattoos weren't likely to be all that common. Surely...  
  
"That's Zelda Green! She's in my psych class, sits in front of me!" Deanna said, starting to sound excited.   
  
Now they believed her? Knowing there was a dragon around was one matter, finding out *who* and what this prophecy was about was another. Then came all the bother of capturing the dragon and getting it to someone who was important in the Night World...  
  
"Don't dragons have some kind of distinguishing marks about them?" Sephra didn't know much about dragons. Weren't they supposed to be the most powerful types of shapeshifters on earth?  
  
"How do you *kill* them?" Miria put in, her tone still icy and untrusting. "Maybe *that's* something we need to look at." She was glancing over at Leandra, trying to convey some sort of message that Leandra obviously wasn't getting.  
  
  
Sephra frowned, wondering what was going on. Then laughed. "You guys think *I'm* the dragon? I'm a *vampire*." Maybe being a dragon could be kind of fun. A dragon was definitely someone you wanted to be friends with.  
  
"I remember hearing something about trouble with a while back," Miria said. "When the shifters joined the witches?"  
  
"Horns," Rylan said softly before she could continue. "Dragons have horns. It's supposed to be the seat of their power."  
  
"So we look for someone with horns," Deanna said.  
  
Sephra snorted in contempt. "If this dragon's got any *sense* then it's not going to *show* it's horns, is it? I think we need to have a talk with your friend Zelda."  
  
* * * 


	17. Part 16

Part 16  
  
"We've had one more team call with possible answers," Thea told Thierry, hanging him a few sheets of paper with information on the small mountain town of Diamond Falls.  
  
At least eight teams had called with possible answers. Thierry sighed as he took the papers, scanning the information. "And what are they going to do about seeing if this girl they think if the dragon, really *is* the dragon?"  
  
"Well, they have a plan, they've already recruited Ash Redfern and his friend Jarred Mandrill to help," Thea said with a slight frown. "They didn't actually say what the plan was."  
  
"Messing with dragons is dangerous," Thierry said, tapping a pen on his desk. "I hope they know what they're doing."  
  
"They sounded pretty certain," Thea said, trying to sound reassuring.   
  
Finding where this dragon was hiding was turning out to be almost impossible. So far not one lead had been any good.  
  
"Is there perhaps some sort of distinguishing mark we should be looking for to make a dragon reveal itself?" Thea suggested.  
  
"Dragons are supposed to have horns somewhere on their body," Thierry said. "It's the seat of their power, how they're identified."  
  
"Or maybe *this* person can help," Hannah said, coming into the office, a smile lighting up her pretty face. With her was a boy nobody had met before.  
  
He was tall and typically Night World good-looking with raven hair, shot through with strands of green, and usual topaz-coloured eyes. He was dressed in black jeans and a deliberately ripped t-shirt.  
  
"Why? What do you do?" Thierry asked the boy. From just looking at him, something was making it strangely impossible to guess how old this boy was, or rather, *what* he was. If he was human, then Thierry was a famous belly-dancer.  
  
"This is Lucifer," Hannah said, sounding extremely pleased with herself.  
  
Thea's eyebrow raised slightly. "Lucifer - sa in named after Satan?" Her voice was small.  
  
The boy - Lucifer - chuckled slightly. "As in meaning 'light-bearer'. As for what I do - I study dragons."  
  
That was unexpected. "You study dragons? Why?" Thierry asked. Dragons had supposedly been extinct since the witches put them to sleep a very long time ago. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to be studying them.  
  
Lucifer pushed back his long fringe, revealing three small black *horns* on his forehead. "Because I *am* one."  
  
Thea and Thierry stared at him in disbelief.   
  
"You're the dragon in the prophecy?" Thea asked, starting to get excited.  
  
Lucifer smiled wryly. "Nope. I've known about that for quite some time. I'm pretty certain that I'm not the dragon we're looking for. But I *am* sure the one we're looking for is a girl."  
  
"*Salvation will come from a joined soul,*" Thierry quoted. "You think that the female dragon will be your soulmate?"  
  
Lucifer just shrugged. "It occurred."  
  
Thierry thought about the latest lead. Surely a dragon would recognise another dragon, which was obviously why Hannah had brought him here. How she'd found him...  
  
But it was a damn lucky break for them that she had.  
  
"I want you to go to Diamond Falls," Thierry said finally. "That's the latest lead we've had. Thea, sort him out?" Thea nodded. She and Lucifer left the office.  
  
Hannah smiled proudly. "He's *got* to find her."  
  
"How'd you find *him*?" he asked, pulling her onto his lap.  
  
"One of the other teams called in with an expert on dragons."   
  
Thierry shook his head, smiling slightly. How had Lucifer been woken? *Who* had women him?  
  
"Do you think he can be trusted?" Thierry asked. He would have liked some more information on their new recruit. Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to send him off to find the other dragon...  
  
"He's already Daybreak. I've checked him out." Hannah refused to let her spirits be dampened. Thierry didn't want to disappoint her.   
  
"Maybe."  
  
Hannah nodded, fingers crossed. "Maybe."  
* * * 


	18. Part 17

Part 17  
  
Now what the hell was going on? If one new person wasn't bad enough, not to mention those weird things going on with two groups of people...  
  
Caprice found herself asked very politely by the principal if she wouldn't mind helping another new boy, Lucifer, settle in. Weren't there any other people they could ask?  
  
It was pretty obvious that Sephra didn't like her. Her hopes at a new friend had flown out the window the minute they'd met. She wasn't sure if she wanted to walk in, all good intentions, then be sneered at because she wasn't model-pretty.  
  
"Caprice, you can go in now."  
  
Caprice sighed with impatience as she went into the principal's office. Great. Hello, Essence of Darkness number 2, she thought, seeing the boy in the chair opposite the principal's desk.   
  
"Lucifer, this is Caprice, she'll be helping you settle in this week." The principal smiled.  
  
Caprice felt like punching her. She forced herself to meet Lucifer's eyes. And was surprised to see his expression was almost one of complete *longing*. As if he'd been waiting to meet her all his life.  
  
Huh? No body had never looked at her like that before. The only boy who ever looked, or even spoke to her was Rylan. Even he'd been kind of distant lately.  
  
He followed her out of the office. She didn't like the way he just *stared* at her like that, his odd yellow eyes glowing with an obsessed heat.  
  
The fun part of the morning came when she and Lucifer walked past Miria and Deanna, who stared at her with jealousy and unabashed hatred.  
  
"There should be *laws* against that," Miria said, loud enough for Caprice to hear as she passed.  
  
"Get a life, Cordelia," Caprice said dryly.  
  
Lucifer looked blank. "What's that all about?"  
  
Caprice waved dismissively. "It's not worth explaining. Miria hates me."  
  
"Why'd you call her Cordelia if her name's Miria?"  
  
Caprice's eyes rolled. "Forget about it."  
  
"Oh." He sounded almost as if there was so much he wanted to say to her, but couldn't quite seem to get it out. Who the hell *was* this person? He made her skin crawl.  
  
"Look there are - what the hell is *he* doing here?"  
  
  
  
Caprice blinked. Lucifer had started to say something - why he was acting so weird? - when he'd broken of, spotting a tall blond boy, lanky and elegant at the same time - walking down the hall. Caprice didn't recognise him. She frowned, seeing Leandra already her claws in.  
  
"Don't know. Who is that?"  
  
Lucifer was frowning. "The boy is Ash Redfern. Who's the girl?"  
  
"She's Leandra Blackthorn. Popular girl. You know." Caprice made a face. Wasn't Sephra's surname Redfern? Were she and that boy - Ash - related?  
  
"What's his deal?" she asked.  
  
Lucifer shrugged. "That's a good question."  
  
Caprice sighed as she led him into their first class. Okay...  
  
* * * 


	19. Part 18

Part 18  
  
Lucifer felt like kicking something. Namely Ash Redfern for showing up and getting in the way. He had just been about to tell Caprice everything. He wasn't even sure if she liked him very much.  
  
She seemed cold and remote and obviously didn't have any friends. Everyone seemed to avoid her. He was sure if he got her to open up she would be a nice person. She was probably lonely and defensive.  
  
Only on sighting Ash Redfern with the local popular girl he'd been distracted and the opportunity had been lost. He'd never actually met another dragon before. He'd been woken about twenty years ago. He still looked like the eighteen year old he'd been when he'd been first put to sleep all those thousands of years ago.  
  
It had taken him a while to adjust to the modern world - and the modern Night World. He'd spent years studying dragons and other mythical creatures that weren't supposed to exist, (but probably did in one form or another).  
  
And he had come across the dragon prophecy. He'd known instantly that it had something to do with him. And the last line...pretty obvious. Another dragon would be woken, and they would be soulmates.  
  
He'd kind of lied when he told Thierry he was sure the prophecy had nothing to do with him. He knew deep inside that he was connected to it in some way, but wasn't sure how so he kept his mouth shut.  
  
Now he'd met this girl. The Daybreakers here seemed convinced she was the dragon. He couldn't see anything about her that said she was any kind of Night Person. If no one had ever told her what she was....if she'd seen her horns and thought they were just deformities, she might have had them surgically removed...  
  
Then the whole prophecy would be a waste of time.  
  
  
There was a chance that this girl *wasn't* the dragon and they could be totally wrong.   
  
But...  
  
He suddenly realised he never knew who had woken him up. It sounded absurd, he knew, but...Why the hell had it never occurred to him to think about that until now?  
  
Surely waking dragons wasn't something everyone could do. He should have spent more time looking into that.  
  
"What's *that*?"  
  
He blinked, brought out of his thoughts by Ash's voice near by. He had paused and was eyeing Caprice.  
  
"I've never seem him before," the blonde girl, Leandra turned to give Lucifer a stunning smile. He just gave her an unimpressed glare. It took more than looks and a famous clan name to impress him.  
  
"Not *him*," Ash said dismissively. "*Her*?"  
  
Leandra was eyeing him as there was something wrong with him. "She's nobody. Come on." She tugged his arm, pulling him away.  
  
Thea had mentioned something to him about a plan to find the dragon and make her reveal herself. A plan that involved Ash and a friend of his. She'd probably explained it all very clearly, only he'd been too pleased on finally finding his soulmate that he hadn't paid any attention to her. Maybe he should ask for some more details before he opened his mouth and started blabbing.  
  
"I've never seen any guy react that way to Leandra." Caprice was looking at him, slightly more interested that she had been previously.  
  
Lucifer smile. "I'm not most guys." He opened his mouth to say something else - then stopped. Oh, this was *not* working out for him! First Ash interrupted, and now *this.*  
  
A girl had just entered the room. Tall with long raven black hair, dressed in dark clothing. It couldn't be. She was *dead*.  
  
"Who's that?" he asked trying to keep his voice calm.  
  
Caprice frowned, seeing him glancing over at the girl. "That's Sephra Redfern. She's only fairly new too. She started last week." She eyed him curiously.  
  
It...why the hell was this *happening* to him? Why now? He thought he'd dealt with Sephra Redfern ages ago. Obviously the bitch was more tricky than he'd thought.  
  
He stood up and stormed over to her, grabbing er shoulder and forcing her to turn around. "What are you doing here? You're dead. I killed you."   
  
* * * 


	20. Part 19

Part 19  
  
"He's a *what*?" Nia asked as Jarred Mandrill, Ash's friend, told them the new addition to the plan.  
  
"Dragon," Jarred said patiently. "He's got the horns and everything." Nia exchanged glances with the others. Having one dragon to deal with was hard enough. The idea, of course, was that one dragon could identify the other dragon.   
  
"I thought these creatures were supposed to be extinct," Ross said sourly. Ash Redfern had already wormed his way into Leandra's group. So far they hadn't figured out what was going on.  
  
"What if it turns out we're wrong and the person we think is the dragon *isn't* the dragon after all?" Enya pointed out. Nia sighed. They'd been over this and over this. Well, if Caprice *wasn't* the dragon, then this *other* dragon should be able to tell.   
  
"Apparently not as extinct as we thought," Jarred said. He paused. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."  
  
"Didn't dragons try to destroy the world once?" Ross said.  
  
"Hence why the witches put them to sleep," Zelda added. "And if more and more are waking up..."  
  
"There'd be a serious problem," Ross said, once again, not being very helpful.  
  
"Who's waking the dragons up?" Nia asked. She didn't think anyone from the modern Night World would be able to know such a powerful spell. They needed to know who was doing this - and stop them.  
  
An upcoming time of darkness and a battle was bad enough. The last thing they needed was a world over run by dragons. If they didn't destroy it, Hollywood would have a field day. Who knew, dragons might like to be famous. Scary thought. "So who's this new dragon?"  
  
"Lucifer, he said his name was," Jarred answered. "Hannah found him."  
  
"How do we know he's really on our side?" Enya asked. "Why, if he's been put to sleep by the witches, would he want to work with Circle Daybreak."  
  
Jarred shrugged. "Hannah says she's checked him out and he's clean."  
  
No one said anything. It was a good point. This dragon - Lucifer - could have his own secret agenda. "We could try talking to him," Zelda suggested.  
  
Ross snorted. "And he'd just tell you what you want to hear."  
  
"This isn't really going anywhere," Nia said moodily. "We're just going to have to wait for either Ash or Lucifer to come back to us with some sort of conformation." There seemed to be *too* much to worry about. But it came with the turf, really. At least it gave them a challenge, something to give their lives meaning, and keep them occupied. And the good guys usually won. Usually.  
  
* * * 


	21. Part 20

Part 20  
  
Sephra wasn't sure she liked Leandra's new friend Ash Redfern. Something about him disturbed her. He was a Redfern vampire without question. His eyes were a dead give away.   
  
So far they hadn't had any luck in figuring out who the dragon was, or catching Zelda to pound some information out of her. Another new guy had arrived as well, and was oddly attached to Caprice, which Sephra did *not* understand. Rylan was acting weird as well.  
  
He'd withdrawn from the group and was slinking around in the background and shadows which she found unusual - and so did the others for that matter.  
  
Deanna and Miria didn't like her or dislike her any more or any less, which didn't bother her in the slightest.   
  
Despite hunting dragons she still had classes to attend. And things got even weirder. As she entered one of her morning classes the other new guy grabbed her arm, turning her around, demanding, "What are you *doing* here? I killed you."  
  
Sephra blinked, eyeing the unusually attractive guy disdainfully. "Excuse me? Who the fuck are *you?*"  
  
The guy glared at her, his yellow eyes flashing oddly. "You're Sephra Redfern, aren't you?"  
  
"Yeah. And I repeat: who are you?"  
  
The guy blinked, looking confused. "Lucifer Draigh. I'm surprised you've forgotten me, you malevolent bitch."  
  
Sephra didn't understand. She was positive she'd never seen this guy in her *life*. How did he know who she was, and that she was a bitch? (Which she wasn't denying).  
  
"Are you insane? Whoever you think I am, you're mistaken." She jerked her arm free.  
  
Lucifer glared at her helplessly for a few minutes, trying to talk and failing to find any words. He turned and barged out of the classroom. She glanced around to see Caprice watching silently. She frowned and walked over forced to sit down as the teacher came in and the lecture started.   
  
"Who is that guy?" she whispered.  
  
Caprice shrugged. "God knows. He's weird."  
  
For once they were in perfect agreement. "You can say *that* again." How had he known who she was? She hadn't thought there could be *that* many Sephra Redferns out there in the world.  
  
"He came this morning. He didn't seem too happy to see that friend of Leandra's."  
  
"He knows Ash Redfern?"  
  
"Apparently."  
Sephra was confused. What the hell was going on? She didn't get it. She hadn't wanted to come here. And it seemed as if her arrival had been some sort of - of - *catalyst* - to start a chain of unusual events.  
  
She'd been stuck with a weird girl, met one cute guy who was turning out to be even weirder, met a rival (of sorts), discovered a plot about a dragon, and now this.   
  
What the hell did *any* of it have to do with her? And where the hell was all this going?  
  
She sighed with irritation, glancing over as she watched Caprice rubbing the back of her neck. Sephra frowned, seeing some odd sort of growth underneath the girl's dull brown hair. A brown pointed lump. Sephra thought she saw several others in a row.  
  
Then realisation hit. They were *horns*. Fucking dragon horns, right there under her nose the entire time.  
  
*Caprice* *was* *the* *dragon.*  
  
* * *  
  
Author's notes: :grimaces: I realise this is probably highly Undramatic, most of you had probably guessed Caprice was the dragon, but a reminder, the bad guys DON'T know that, so forgive the dramatic cliché. 


	22. Part 21

Part 21  
  
It had been right in front of her. Sephra wondered how she could have missed it. The girl had been distinctively creepy and weird. Not normal.  
  
^She doesn't know^ Sephra thought. She turned her gaze away from Caprice, focusing on her work. It was very unnerving to be sitting next to a dragon who didn't *know* they were a dragon.  
  
From what she'd heard the girl had been labelled a freak and outcast most of her school life. She'd just *accepted* she was different. Her powers had never been released.  
  
Sephra didn't know how Caprice had done that. She wouldn't be able to stand being a pariah. She had always liked to be part of a crowd - or rather, in charge - of a crowd.  
  
There had to be something going on to keep her interested.  
  
Now she had ultimate power within her grasp. Dragons had ruled over the world back in their day. Had the power to shapeshift into *anything*. Who knew what else?  
  
What she wouldn't give to be like that...  
  
She didn't see Leandra until lunch. She couldn't wait though another *two* boring hours of classes with her news. ~I know who the dragon is~ she said to Leandra, settling for telepathy.  
  
~What?!~ The loud, shocked sound of Leandra's mental voice inside her head nearly knocked her off her chair. Caprice glanced at her oddly.   
  
~You heard me, I know who the dragon is. She was right here under our noses the whole fucking time, we just never put two and two together.~  
  
~I don't fucking believe this~ Leandra sounded disgusted. ~It's Caprice, isn't it?~  
  
~She's got *horns* on the back of her neck, under her hair. We never saw them.~  
  
~I never knew they were horns. We saw them once when she had her hair tied back and thought they were just gross deformities.~  
  
Sephra could almost see Leandra's nose wrinkle. ~That's why you call her freak.~  
  
~That, plus she's just weird period. Now what?~  
  
Sephra didn't know. She couldn't exactly turn to Caprice and say you're a dragon. She didn't know what type of reaction it might provoke.   
  
Did dragons look like they did in the fantasy movies? It was hard to imagine seeing one in a modern world.  
  
~I don't know. But we have to be careful. We can't arouse her suspicions. We don't know what she's capable of.~  
  
She had a feeling that Caprice might already be a little suspicious. The bell rang and everyone flooded out the room. Sephra lost sight of Caprice.  
  
She *didn't* however, loose sight of the guy who claimed he'd killed her. In another life, maybe. The thought was dismissive, but then Sephra thought again. Past lives weren't stories. There were such things. Old Souls, people who just kept being reborn again and again.  
  
But not vampires. It didn't happen to vampires because vampires didn't have souls. So how was a past life possible for her? She didn't exactly belong in the soul-moral camp.  
  
Lucifer Draigh would require some investigation.  
  
~I know!~ It was Leandra again. ~We'll send Ash to kidnap her. She won't recognise him~.  
  
Sephra sighed. Why did she have the feeling that Leandra's plan was almost inevitably going to go horribly wrong?  
  
* * * 


	23. Part 22

Part 22  
  
"So you want me to kidnap a dragon?" Ash asked. This had been the opportunity he had been waiting for. He had, after all, promised Mary-Lynnette he'd return - with a slain dragon.  
  
Unfortunately, Circle Daybreak wanted him to bring the dragon in alive. They wanted her on their side. He'd managed to briefly see Lennox, who seemed to be in charge of the group of Daybreakers.  
  
He wasn't pleased to learn Ross Hughes was part of the group. Ross clearly still hated him. Well, he'd just have to deal. Past was past. He'd also been pointed out to the girl they thought was the dragon.  
  
Conformation had just come from the other new Night World vampire Sephra Redfern that she'd seen horns on the girl. Leandra had told her they'd get the dragon, or rather, it was up to Ash to kidnap her.  
  
Which meant if he could get the girl, Caprice, to trust him, he could secretly take her to Thierry and the Daybreakers. Well, that was the basic plan. Exactly *how* he was going to do that he wasn't too sure yet.  
  
"Yes. She already despises us," Leandra said, frowning a little. "We didn't know she was a dragon."  
  
He'd already guessed they'd decided the girl was a freak, and on realising what she really was, they regretted the way they'd treated her.  
  
"She doesn't know what she is either from the sounds of it." He pointed out. "Unless she does and she's doing a very good job of hiding it."  
  
If she really *was* a Night Person of any sort, then someone would have noticed by now. The whole idea of bringing the second dragon in was so *he* could point out the prophecy dragon.  
  
Ash wasn't sure he trusted the second dragon. No one seemed to know much about him. Hannah claimed she'd 'checked him out and he was clean'. He could be lying.  
  
"Do you know that other new guy, Lucifer?"  
  
Ash looked up as the stunning dark haired girl walked in. Her eyes changed colour from second to second like his. Some distant relation. "No. Why?"  
  
Sephra Redfern shrugged. "He seemed utterly convinced he'd killed me."  
  
"How can you still be here if he's killed you?" Leandra asked, confused.  
  
"That's what *I* want to know," Sephra said with a frown.  
  
Leandra glanced at Ash, who just shrugged himself. He didn't have a damn clue who Lucifer Draigh really was.  
  
"So you're gonna get the dragon?" Sephra asked, eyeing Ash distrustfully.  
"Yeah."  
  
~During which you're probably going to get yourself killed~ Ash thought. Strange, he wasn't too broken up about that. His only worry was that snatching the girl might wake up her powers and get *him* killed.  
  
"Do you have a plan?" Leandra asked, wrapping her slender arms around her waist.  
  
Ash shrugged again. "Seduce her, what else?" He smiled his old, lazy predatory smile. As long as he remained focus on his task he couldn't get tempted.   
  
Leandra was the type of Night World girl he'd always used to hope his soulmate would be (after telling himself it was just mushy bullshit, he couldn't help having a profile in mind). Leandra was beautiful, cunning, ruthless. Just like himself.  
  
Instead he got a human. He'd come to terms with that now. He'd accepted her and was determined to be a better person for her. He wouldn't betray her.  
  
"Then when you get the dragon, we'll take her to the Council and get nice big rewards," Leandra smiled.  
  
Ash glanced over at Sephra, who just didn't trust him. He could tell just by the way she kept glaring at him. Damn. He didn't want to kill her, but he would if he had to. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. He nodded and stood up.  
  
He left the room they'd been occupying and went to find the dragon. He frowned, glancing over his shoulder watching a shadow disappear. An uncomfortable shiver ran through him. Had someone been spying on them?  
  
* * * 


	24. Part 23

Part 23  
  
Rylan didn't know what was going on anymore. He'd given up trying to get involved in anything. He had decided to stick to the background rather than throw himself into the main line of action.  
  
Enya and Zelda had tried to talk to him several times, but he had avoided them as best as he could. Leandra had sent Deanna and Miria to find out what the hell was going on with him. He avoided them as well.  
  
He wasn't sure what the other weird new guy thought he was doing, particularly the way he hovered over Caprice. Plus, he was certain he was imagining things at first, but he was positive he had seen Ash Redfern. Rumour had it that he'd somehow found a human soulmate and it was supposed to have changed his personality completely.  
  
Rylan found it almost laughable coming from someone with a reputation like Ash. Particularly on seeing him with Leandra. The snobby girl Sephra Redfern seemed to have become a part of their group as well. (He wasn't actually surprised about that).  
  
When he'd seen the three of them, it had occurred to him he might want to listen in. He had known Ash was up to something. He had known all along there was something different about Caprice. But a *dragon*? If he let them take her, they would *hurt* her in the most extreme and unpleasant ways to wake her beast and power.  
  
If Enya and the Daybreakers tried to get her, they'd just fill her head with a bunch of righteous bullshit. He couldn't see Thierry or any of the other Daybreak leaders accepting a dragon on their side. Even one who didn't know about her powers and history. There had to be something he could do save her.  
  
"You got a minute?"  
  
Rylan was about to turn and snap no. A Black Iris club was probably the stupidest place to try and hide. What had he been thinking? He was a little surprised to find it was Ross Hughes.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
Ross sat down and ordered a beer. "It's to do with Caprice, Ash and this whole ridiculous dragon things."  
  
"Okay, you have my attention." Rylan signalled to the bar girl for a top up of his vodka martini. "What do you know?"  
  
Ross smiled without humour. "Let's get one thing straight. I despise Ash Redfern. I don't care what people say about him these days, he's an asshole. He's not one of the 'good' guys."  
  
Rylan frowned. "What'd he do?"  
  
"She meant nothing to him," Ross said softly. "But she did to me. She was my soulmate."  
  
"He killed her, didn't he?"   
  
Ross nodded.  
  
Rylan didn't even want to think what that must be like, to loose a soulmate. Particularly to an infamous so-called villain like Ash Redfern. "What do you know about this whole dragon prophecy thing?" Rylan asked again.  
  
"Everyone seems convinced that Caprice is the dragon. Apparently she has lumps on the back of her neck that are supposed to be horns - the seat of a dragon's power." Ross snorted in contempt. "Ash is supposed to be posing as a Night Worlder, he's meant to snatch her, when instead of taking her to the Council, he'll take her to Hannah and Thierry."  
  
"But you don't agree with it?" Rylan was confused. If Ross had a point to make, he hadn't gotten it yet.  
  
"I don't believe that the girl is the dragon. It's unfortunate that she's been classed a nobody, but from what I know it's her own choice. I don't...I don't know if I'm explaining this very well."  
  
Rylan wondered if he had a crush on Caprice and just didn't want to admit it. After what had happened with his soulmate, Rylan couldn't blame him on the whole relationship issue. "I think I get it," he answered. "Why come to me?"  
  
Ross shrugged. "I know you like her and protect her. I think that the Daybreakers will kill her, and the Night People will use her shamelessly. She shouldn't have to go through that."  
  
Rylan agreed. He was supposed to be a Night Person himself, not a Daybreaker. Yet on this one, he was in perfect agreement with Ross.   
  
"We need a plan. We can't exactly walk up to her and tell her," Ross said.  
  
"Actually it's probably the best idea. Just tell her the truth. Then we can figure out what to do."  
  
Ross eyed him like he was nuts. "Fine. You can be the one to tell her."  
  
"Okay. I will." Rylan stood up and left some cash on the bar for the waitress. He headed over to Caprice's house. Even though he knew it was late, he had to tell her before anyone else got to her.  
  
Caprice answered the door, not pleased too see him. She was wearing blue pyjamas with penguins on. "What do you want? Do you know what time it is?"  
  
"Can I come in? There's something we need to talk about."  
  
Caprice stood aside as he came in. They went into the lounge. "So what's so important that can't wait until tomorrow?"  
  
Rylan looked at her, so normal and innocent in her penguin pyjamas. She *couldn't* be one of the world's most ancient, evil monsters. "I have something to tell you, you might not want to believe it, but..." He paused, but there wasn't any other way to say it... "oh fuck it. There's no other way. Um...everyone believes you're a dragon."  
  
* * * 


	25. Part 24

Part 24  
  
Caprice's first instinct was to laugh out loud. He'd come all the way from - wherever he'd come from to tell her she was a dragon? Her other thought was it was some cruel joke. "Uh-huh," she said flatly, crossing her arms.   
  
Rylan smiled. "You don't believe me."  
  
Of course she didn't believe him. Was he totally insane? "No. I've never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life." She shook her head. "I don't know how much you've had to drink - or what you've been smoking," she added snidely, "but I think you'd better go."  
  
"You know the lumps on the back of your neck?"  
  
Caprice frowned. What the hell was he going on about? It wasn't like she could call her parents. When she'd come home from school that afternoon there had been a note on the table telling her they'd gone on vacation for a while. They'd left cash in the cupboard for her. They'd call soon. She had been more than a little pissed off she hadn't been let in on this. Screw them, then. Now *this*. "Yeah they're why I'm freak, remember?" she said bitterly.   
  
Rylan shook his head. "They're horns. The seat of a dragon's power."  
  
Caprice just laughed at him. "Yeah right. Next you're going to tell me I'm adopted and my real parents were some famous dragons who were killed for some stupid reason. What are you? An imp? An elf?" She snickered.   
  
"I'm a vampire," he said reasonably. His tone had been calm as he'd been telling her all this. He acted like this was the reaction he'd expected from her.  
  
"Vampire," she repeated dully. She hadn't expected that one. Vampires weren't something she tended to associate dragons with. Dragons she associated with fantasy, mainly Middle Earth and Hobbits. Vampires came with Buffy and Anita Blake.  
  
Rylan sighed. "I suppose I should explain the whole thing. Forget what you think you know. The real supernatural has nothing to do with what you see on Buffy or read in Anne Rice. And dragons aren't all like Smaug."  
  
Caprice frowned. How could he know what she was thinking? "How did you - "  
  
"Vampires can read minds," Rylan said simply. "Most of the time we just get a vague idea, but we get this reaction a lot from people who think they're human but find out they're not. You're not even *supposed* to know about the Night World."  
  
Caprice blinked. That was one she hadn't heard before. "What's Night World?" Wait a minute...she *had* heard if something along those lines before. Something to do with Sandra and Lance, who everyone seemed to use as a threat - you don't want to end up like Sandra and Lance. She'd heard Night World mentioned several times there. There had been fights and riots all over town that had eventually been stopped, most people never talked about it.  
  
"It's a society for us non-humans, vampires, witches shapeshifters." He paused. "I'm fairly certain there's more than that to the supernatural world, but that's ours. Dragons used to be a part, but they were all put to sleep by the witches when they tried to end the world."  
  
Caprice forced herself not to comment as he explained about the history of Night World, the story of the dragons, of Maya and Hellewise and how the Night World formed, and the prophecy that made everyone think she was a dragon.  
  
"So what's the deal with this new guy that's shown up - Lucifer?" she asked.   
  
Rylan frowned. "I don't know. The people you want to talk to about that is Nia and Ross, you know them?"  
  
Caprice shrugged. "Vaguely." She remembered being pissed off that people were whispering about her a while back. This was why? She remembered Leandra's new "friend" as well. "Who's the other guy with Leandra?" she asked.  
  
Rylan's frown turned into a scowl. "That's Ash Redfern. His a big name in the Night World ranks, rumour had it he became good when he found a human soulmate, but I don't believe it."  
  
"What's soulmates?" Caprice asked, one of the lines of the prophecy floating back to her. /Salvation will come/From a joined soul./  
  
"Soulmates is a concept in the Night World than everyone has one true love. When you meet that person something happens - like sparks and lightning - and you know they're the one for you."  
  
Caprice noticed he looked almost embarrassed as he said it. Her eyes rolled. "And you think that sometime soon a revelation will it and we'll find out we're soulmates and won't re-destroy the world?" That was what the prophecy seemed to be telling her would happen. When she found out she was a dragon, her powers would waken, she'd know all about her ancestors and want revenge for what happened to them, she would try and destroy the world, she would find her soulmate and that would save everyone.  
  
Rylan flushed. "I doubt it," he said. "But the Night People - Leandra and her friends are hunting you to take you to their people, while the Daybreakers - the good guys - wand to take you to their leaders."  
  
Caprice sank deeper into the couch. She still wasn't sure she believed any of this crap - but he was dead serious, which unnerved her. "Which is worse?"  
  
Rylan shrugged. "I'm not sure," he confessed. He stood up and started pacing around. Caprice sighed. Two lots of people had to plans for her - and she didn't know either one. She wasn't all that surprised, actually. Now she knew the basics only two questions were important to her - one: how did she use her dragon powers? and two: who was her soulmate?  
  
* * * 


	26. Part 25

Part 25  
  
Sephra frowned as she sat in her car, opposite the house where she knew   
Caprice lived. So far that night Ash Redfern had made no appearance, neither   
had Lucifer Draigh for that matter. Good, or bad, she didn't know.  
  
She didn't trust Ash Redfern. She'd heard of him before he'd come here, some   
girl she had known back where she'd lived before claimed to have been   
screwing around with him, this cute Redfern named Ash from the original   
enclave founded by Hunter Redfern. But that wasn't why she didn't trust him.  
  
She'd heard one of the Daybreakers, Ross, talking about him to Rylan. She   
didn't trust Rylan much, either. He'd slipped into the background after   
she'd made her main appearance. And then she'd seen him doing a lousy job of   
spying on her, Leandra and Ash.  
  
She hadn't mentioned it to Leandra, Leandra was still crazy about him. She   
had followed him to a Night World club, where he'd met with Ross. It had   
been kind of hard to hear the conversation, but she had picked up on the   
gist of it - neither of them believed Caprice was really the dragon.  
  
She had horns, for Christ's sake, what more proof did they need? Well, maybe   
some sort of display of Power from the black fire dragons were supposed to   
be able to use, but how to get her to use it without killing them all - that   
was the tricky part.  
  
She'd been sat outside Caprice's house ever since overhearing Rylan and   
Ross...and that Ash was supposed to be a secret Daybreaker. She knew she   
didn't like him. Rylan had come into Caprice's house, and had been there for   
about two hours now.  
  
She yawned, wishing she had brought some coffee. Or at least had a decent   
meal before. She'd fed briefly, enough to kill the hunger, but it was never   
*enough*.  
  
So far, no one had seen her. The handy thing about having a black car for   
spying jobs at night, she thought with a smile. She sank down in her seat   
trying to force her eyes to stay open.  
  
Her cell phone rang. She was considering on ignoring it, but knew that never   
worked. It could be Leandra with some wonderful revolutionary news. Though   
she doubted it.  
  
"What?" she asked, frowning at the number flashing on the small screen. She   
didn't recognise it.  
  
"This is Lucifer Draigh. You and I need to talk."  
  
Sephra frowned, sitting up, her sleepiness gone. "The guy who almost killed   
me this morning...why would I want to talk to you?" If she went to meet this   
guy, which was obviously why he was calling her...would she come out of it   
alive?  
  
"There seems to be something...not right here. I knew someone fitting your   
exact description and name several hundred thousand years ago before I was   
put to sleep, you showed up again when I was woken about a hundred years or   
so ago, and I thought I killed you. But there you were this morning."  
Sephra was silent. She ad absolutely no idea what he was talking about. As   
far as she knew, she was an ordinary lamia Redfern, with ordinary lamia   
parents. Caprice was going to get the adoption side of the story. Leandra   
was checking on that. "All right. I haven't got a clue about anything you   
just said...and as far as I know, *I'm* not a dragon. Where do you want me to   
meet you?"  
  
Maybe doing this on his territory would be a stupid idea, maybe not. He   
might be more comfortable about explaining than being faced with her side of   
things.  
  
"My place." He gave her an address.  
  
"I'll be there in ten minutes." The address was a motel room on the other   
side of town. It didn't take her long to find it. She had been calm and cool   
when she had learned about the new prophecy, and when she had learned   
Caprice was the dragon.  
  
So now, as she knocked on Lucifer Draigh's motel room door, why was her   
heart pounding painfully?  
  
* * * 


End file.
